Heartbeat
by cleana
Summary: Rena is starting to remember the other worlds, so she writes down her "dreams" in a journal. Keiichi then gets curious about this journal...One-shot, very minor blood


Is that the sound of a heartbeat?

Or am I mistaken…

No, surely it is, but…

I'm swimming in darkness. It's sticky and heavy, so I can barely move. But I must. I want to wake up. It is too quiet, and the heartbeat is scaring me. It's so loud…

My eyelids open, revealing the interior of a strange place. At first, I can't pinpoint it. But finally, I recognize the small trinkets, the ones I've collected and stored here. I sit up. Yes, my guess was correct. I'm inside the bus at the garbage heap.

The sun is sinking below the horizon, streaking the sky with tendrils of bright orange and highlights of rosy pink. How long have I been here? A journal is open in front of me, and I know the handwriting's my own. Recently, I've been having horrible dreams, but I don't know if you can exactly call them dreams. They feel so real, like they might've happened.

But how could they have? How could I have killed people and…

No. I didn't want to think about it.

I closed the journal and stuffed it in the drawer that was pushed up against the bus's wall. I was fixing to close the drawer when a loud creak interrupted my thoughts.

"Rena!" came a loud voice from the front of the bus, near the windows. I turned around, surprised. Keiichi was looking at me, worry written all over his face. "Rena! Were you here the whole day?" he asked, slipping in.

I put on my best smile. Don't want him to think something is bothering me. "Keiichi-kun!" I said happily. "Yup, I've been here all day ~"

"Well, I was looking for you," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's almost dark."

"I know," I replied, itching to get him to go away.

"What were you doing?" he asked, eyes shooting to the drawer and back to my face.

I closed it by pushing my hip against it. "Oh, nothing, just napping."

He nodded. "Okay, well did you find anything today?"

I shrugged. "Nope, not really," I said. "But I'm fixing to leave."

His eyes went to the drawer again. I moved in front of it, blocking it from his view. If Keiichi read the things in there…

An image flashed in front of my eyes. Keiichi standing over me, holding a bat, his eyes wide with fear. Blood dripped from the metal weapon, and I think he was crying as well. I reached up for him.

"Keiichi-kun…" I muttered. "I-I'm sorry…"

And the bat came down.

No, I resolved, clasping my hands into fists as I arrived back in the real world. Keiichi couldn't read those things, no matter what. I didn't want him thinking I was scared of him.

"Okay, well," he said awkwardly. "I can walk you home…?"

"No, thanks, Keiichi-kun," I said, smiling. "I'm alright."

He nodded. "Okay, Rena…" he sounded worried, but climbed out of the window and up the garbage heap. I closed my eyes, my head dropping. Why did these dreams have to come to me?

I slid down the garbage heap, my boots scraping over the rust. I crept inside the bus as usual. Two nights after my encounter with Keiichi, I had another dream. This time it was in a dark forest. A loud gunshot echoed in my ears, and Keiichi fell backwards, his hands releasing a bat. The handle of an axe was clasped in my own hands. And in yet another set of hands was a gun, and no doubt it was a bullet that had struck him.

Mion, Shion, Satoko, Rika…yes, they were all here. "Everyone, RUN!" I screamed, whipping around…

And that was the end of the dream. I was coming to write it down. I grabbed the drawer's handle, pulling it open…

It wasn't there.

My journal was gone.

My eyes widening. It had to be Keiichi! No one else could have. I was almost certain he came back to the bus and looked through the drawer. Tears started falling, warm against my already-flushed cheeks. Before I knew it, I was scrambling up the trash heap, running, my heart pumping…

Thump. Thump. My heartbeat.

I raced around the corner, up to the door, my fist slamming against the wood. Keiichi opened it. I could hear his mother in the kitchen, making dinner. I glared at him.

"The journal," I hissed. "Give it to me."

His eyes widened, as if he didn't think I would have figured it out, and yet here I was, demanding it on his doorstep.

"Now!" I yelled.

Keiichi vanished, the door closing in my face. I counted the seconds, eagerly awaiting the journal's arrival. Just when I thought I was going to have to force my way into his house, Keiichi opened the door, the brown book in his hands. In Keiichi's hands.

He held it out, and I snatched it, pressing it against my chest. "Did you read it!" I demanded. He stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

"Rena…I.." he began.

"I don't care about your explanation!" I nearly screamed, my heart racing. "Did you read it?"

"Yes," he whispered. "Rena, how could you think I-"

I slapped him, turned quickly, and ran off. How dare he! I thought angrily, tears streaming again. He had read it…he had read everything…

I totally forgot about writing my new dream. I totally forgot the journal was even in my arms. That may be why when I finally stopped, sweat drenching me, the journal was not in my hands. All I could think was Keiichi knew about my dreams. And he was probably out to get me, too, because he knew that I knew...I scratched my throat, then quickly tore my hands away.

No! No, no, no! This could not be! But the maggots were definitely falling, writhing, blood caking my fingernails…no…not this…

I walked.

My feet moved sluggishly, but I moved. If Keiichi was going to get me, then I had to leave. I didn't want to die. I didn't want him to crush me with a bat like he did in my dreams. I scratched the itch I knew I shouldn't scratch and I walked. The higurashi began to cry out for me, telling me to stay. But I couldn't. May if I went away, the dreams would too…

I don't know when I stopped walking, but soon I was on my knees, my hands scraping at the skin of my throat. I realized the warm liquid trickling over them was blood. My blood.

The world was a mist, fading in and out. The shards of dreams exploded across my vision, haunting me until my last moment, as I scratched and scratched, my heartbeat pounding in my ears.


End file.
